Treacherous Wynne retains our slavery to anti-city OMB

Rosario Marchese —

Sad news. On June 18, the government and the official opposition teamed up to kill my Bill 20, Respect for Municipalities Act (City of Toronto). My bill would have set Toronto free from the Ontario Municipal Board, a responsibility the City formally requested in February 2012.

The writing was on the wall after the government proposed amendments that would have gutted Bill 20. The amendments would have denied Toronto authority over its Official Plan and site approvals, and imposed strict conditions that would have made it effectively impossible for the City to establish its own local appeals body to replace the OMB.

With the official opposition on side, the government withdrew the amendments in order to bring the bill to a vote. The four government MPPs (Mitzie Hunter, Laura Albanese, Soo Wong and Rick Bartolucci) abstained on the recorded vote. The official opposition then voted against Michael Prue and me, killing Bill 20 three votes to two.

But as discouraging as this outcome is, I am heartened by the enormous support you and others have shown for Bill 20.

Renowned planning experts like Ken Greenberg and heritage conservation advocates like Catherine Nasmith gave powerful testimonies in support of the bill, agreeing that it was time to set Toronto free from the OMB.

The Toronto Star wrote not one, but two editorials in support of Bill 20 and OMB reform.

City councillors like Mike Layton and Kristyn Wong-Tam took time off from their busy City Hall schedules to attend the Bill 20 hearings, letting the government know that the City of Toronto was ready, willing and able to assume responsibility for its planning and development.

Community groups like the Annex Residents’ Association and the Harbord Village Residents’ Association spoke at the hearings or wrote excellent letters explaining why it was time to set Toronto free.

And finally, individual community members like you wrote from all over Toronto and Ontario to declare support for setting Toronto free from the OMB. Thank you for all your support!

The battle is not over. This bill has raised great awareness about the unaccountable, undemocratic and out-of-control OMB, and put the issue high on the public’s agenda, if not the government’s. We need to keep the pressure up!

If you have not yet done so, I hope you will please sign my petition calling on the government to set Toronto free from the OMB.